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Book reviews for "Kronegger,_Maria_Elisabeth" sorted by average review score:

Nelles Guide California, Las Vegas, Reno, Baja (Nelles Guides)
Published in Paperback by Hunter Publishing, Inc. (2000)
Authors: John Gottberg, Robert Holmes, Fred Gebhardt, Elisabeth Hansen, Gail Harrington, Barbara Horngren, Mimi Kmet, Maria Lenhart, John McKinney, and Shirley Miller
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Good book
Library Journal's review of this guide: "Combining encyclopedic coverage of destinations with loads of practical information and atlas-type maps, the series illuminates the wonders of nature but emphasizes the peculiarity of a place's people and their folklore."


The New World of Microenterprise Finance: Building Healthy Financial Institutions for the Poor
Published in Paperback by Kumarian Press (1994)
Authors: Maria Otero, Elisabeth H. Rhyne, and Mary Houghton
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You Must Read This Book!
Otero and Rhyne have done an admirable job of documenting recent advances in the field of microfinance. They combine a succinct and accessible writing style with lively case studies to (a) challenge pre-existing economic notions regarding microfinance, (b) present a model for evaluating microfinance programs, (c) discuss the legal environment for microfinance programs, and, (d) elaborate on alternative program design and delivery mechanisms to effectively reach poor clients. I found the case studies very helpful. Both laymen and specialists will benefit from the balanced, informed and painstaking research that has gone into writing this book. A must-read for development enthusiasts in general and microfinance fanatics in particular!


An Instant in the Wind
Published in Paperback by Viking Press (1985)
Author: Andre Philippus Brink
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A disappointing novel
I expected this novel to be engaging not only because it was by Andre Brink, one of the most celebrated South African writers, but because it was also shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize. However, I was deeply disappointed with this chronicle of the relationship between a white woman and a runaway slave because it becomes, almost right from the beginning, cliched, repetitive, and affected.

'An instant in the wind' is a novel of exploration at two levels. On the one hand, it explores the beautifully cruel South African landscape between the Great Fish River and Table Mountain, passing through the Tsitsikama region and the Karoo Desert; on the other, it intends to explore the psychology between blacks and whites and men and women in the South Africa of the mid-1700s--and, by extension, of 'apartheid' South Africa. Brink's thesis appears (and I emphasize that word, appears) to be that only extreme situtations bring people together, making us forget our racial and sexual differences. However, nothing really illuminating is said, and the very ending is extremely ambiguous, causing one to wonder if Brink did't play a trick on the reader with respect to the intentions of the female character. If he did (and I'm inclined to believe that he did), then the ultimate message of the novel is extremely nihilistic.

Is there anything redeeming in this novel? I found the descriptions of nature superb. The Tsitsikama and Karoo truly come to life the way Brink describes them, and Table Mountain becomes truly magnificent. This background, perhaps, makes the novel worth reading.

Pure purple pleasure
What is it that makes South African authors incapable of happy endings?

Having read and enjoyed JM Coetzee's bleak "Disgrace" I found Brink's novel in a second hand shop and went to work. In subject matter it is a blending of two Patrick White novels - "Voss" about a doomed journey to the (Australian) interior, and "A Fringe of Leaves" about a white woman's life among Aborigines after a 19th Century shipwreck.

In Brink's hands, in 1750, a naive but spirited white woman from the Cape accompanies her Swedish explorer husband into the upmapped interior, only to find herself alone when the husband dies and the Hottentot retainers head for the hills.

She is found by a runaway slave, Adam, who for reasons of his own agrees to set off with her to the Cape.

Brink vividly describes the country through which they must travel. Against its physical presence, the couple become lovers. All of this is good fun. Brink was writing at a time when black/white relationships were forbidden under apartheid law. Indeed, the book for a while was banned. He delivers us a vintage love story, full of sex and spirit. (Funny how Coetzee, 25 years later when inter-racial sex is no longer verboten, sees the politics of such relationships in an entirely different way).

As Brink signals in the opening pages, however, there is no happy-ever-after. If there had been (the story purports to be based on truth), South Africa's history might have been different.

At times, the writing has less to do with black and white than purple, especially as Brink creates a seaside idyll for his pair, but for my money it's a grand read. It recalls a time when white South African liberals believed if only people could see their true nature everything would be all right.

Coetzee's darker - and more recent - version is that WHEN people are most true to their nature, South Africans have much to fear.

Poetic, lyrical
A wonderful read. A powerfully written love story between a slave and a white woman in 18th century South Africa. The South African landscape is revealed in all it's harshness and beauty. The story of the two characters are based on fact which makes the story even more phenomenal. A masterpiece.


Begegnungen in Mooshausen : Romano Guardini, Maria Knoepfler, Maria Elisabeth Stapp, Josef Weiger
Published in Unknown Binding by A.H. Konrad ()
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Buch und Lesen auf dem Dorf : katholische Volksbüchereien in Südtirol : Geschichte, kultureller Hintergrund und Lesestoffangebot
Published in Unknown Binding by Haag + Herchen ()
Author: Maria Elisabeth Brunner
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Condizioni di coerenza : ricerche di linguistica testuale
Published in Unknown Binding by La Nuova Italia ()
Author: Maria-Elisabeth Conte
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Dahlenburg, Australia, 1849-1981 : a brief history of the Dahlenborg family in Germany and the emigration of four of the ten children of Hinrich Christoph Dahlenborg and Anna Maria Elisabeth Dahlenborg (nee Wohler) from Mecklenburg, Germany to South Australia in 1849 and 1854 : history of these Australian pioneers and the growth and spread of their families throughout Australia and New Zealand to 1981
Published in Unknown Binding by Dahlenburg Reunion and Family History Publication Committee : distributed by A.P. Dahlenburg ()
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Das Ideal der Wüstenaskese und seine Rezeption in Gallien bis zum Ende des 6. Jahrhunderts
Published in Unknown Binding by Aschendorff ()
Author: Maria-Elisabeth Brunert
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The depositional environment of Jurassic organic-rich sedimentary rocks in NW Europe : a biomarker approach
Published in Unknown Binding by Faculteit Aardwetenschappen, Universiteit Utrecht ()
Author: Helena Maria Elisabeth van Kaam-Peters
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Der Deserteur und Erzähler Alfred Andersch : "Dass nichts dunkel gesagt werden darf, was auch klar gesagt werden kann"
Published in Unknown Binding by P. Lang ()
Author: Maria Elisabeth Brunner
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